Chapter 10: The Mega Fairy Queen
After Laxus had his encounter with Sanctus, he had encountered a mysterious doctor. He had no idea who this doctor was or what he was capable of. Or what the doctor was actually intending to do when he just so happened to cross his path.
What Edward was actually on his way to do was hire some man power. The first thing he wanted to do was start where he left off. He and Hocus had put their ingenuity and outside-the-box thinking to hypothesize that perhaps the Societea could operate the Sky Fortress utilizing their newfound vitality and power in place of the Golden Armor. Whether or not they would even try was the question. After all, it had been inoperable when they last saw it.
At any rate, Edward knew that the Societea was going to need some help getting back on its feet if it was to be as formidable as it was in its glory days. As he walked into a bar, he chuckled to himself. He felt the same rush he used to feel in every crime he committed as a young man.
Days later, Erza decided that Team Natsu's next job would be to stop a monster from destroying a village. Seemed typical, right? Well, the job description said that while this beast was normally docile and resided in the plains nearby, the recent actions of it were abnormally violent and it was unresponsive to stimuli.
"This monster will be interesting to observe this monster," Erza said with great gumption. As if on cue, a giant badger-like creature went rolling by.
"Was that a fluffy house?!" Natsu gasped. "That thing was huge!"
"Well, this made our jobs spontaneously easy," Gray said, holding Castform. Juvia made him take it so they could have bonding time.
"What's the plan? Pitfall trap? Freeze it?" Lucy asked Erza, hoping she had a plan that wouldn't decimate the entire village.
Erza took out a PokéDex and scanned the giant badger as it rampaged on. She concluded, "I doubt it's a new species since these villagers know it so well, so I am going to conclude that this isn't a Pokémon."
"Where did you get that…?" Lucy couldn't help but ask.
"Don't worry about it."
"Yes, ma'am…"
"So…what distinguishes a Pokémon from other non-humans?" Happy, a curious non-human, asked.
"This," Erza threw a Poké Ball at Happy's head. Nothing happened.
"So…what is our plan?" Wendy brought Lucy's question back into light.
"We fight it with our fighting spirit!" Erza replied confidently. She had blazing determination in her eyes. Nothing would stop her.
"I was afraid you'd say that. Well, there goes my rent," Lucy sighed, her Klefki floating beside her, sighing in unison.
"Um…let's have fun with this," Wendy suggested hesitantly, not sure how to go about this supportively.
"Sheesh," Carla sighed as Gray and Natsu charged, shooting fire and ice everywhere.
"Erza-san," Wendy spoke, her tone of voice changing, "There's another person hiding himself. And I smell a ghost, too."
"I see… Lucy, I need you to do me a favor. I'm sure you'll object to it unless I threaten you, but this is important. I need you to use Virgo to sneak up on it and get in its face," Erza requested, though it sounded like an order.
"R-right," Lucy nervously complied as Klefki handed her Virgo's key. She waved the golden key. "Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" In a bright flash, the masochistic maid erupted from the ground.
"What can I do for you, Princess?" Virgo politely asked.
"Virgo, could you please get me in front of that badger?" Lucy requested.
"I thought you would rather avoid something like that, but as you wish," Virgo complied and started drilling with her magic. Lucy followed her down the hole.
"Wendy, focus on finding that smell," Erza ordered. "I think there's more to this than meets the eye."
Wendy had a feeling that Erza was right. The redhead was second to a select few at short-term battle analysis. Closing her eyes, she put all of her focus into her sense of smell. Suddenly, her kind, brown eyes shot open in revelation. She pointed to a small cathedral with a slate roof. "There!"
"Good girl!" Erza complimented Wendy and awarded her with a dog treat, which she was eager to accept.
"Wendy! You have no idea where that's been!" Carla scolded her.
"But it's tasty…" Wendy said defensively.
Meanwhile, Lucy was propelled up from the ground by Virgo. In mid air, she caught a glimpse of the giant badger's eyes. They were absent, as if it was in a trance. The badger swatted at Lucy, but Natsu, propelled by fire, grabbed her in the nick of time.
Happy was swatting the badger with a stick, shouting, "Stay away from Carla, you big bully!"
"That's sweet, Happy," Carla said with a smile and tears in her eyes. "But that creature hasn't even glanced at me."
"I think it's hypnotized. Its eyes are blank…" Lucy informed Natsu.
"That doesn't change my plan. Beat it up!" Natsu bellowed, relishing the sport of the fight. He looked down proudly at his Charmander, who was breathing fire at the badger.
"Spectral Sword: Crimson Sakura!" Erza summoned the legendary katana, Crimson Sakura and requipped out of her armor and into her flame pattern pants and her chest bandages. She gave a mighty lunge towards the cathedral and leapt to the top of the slate roof. In mid air, she swung her sword. She'd managed to cut throat some type of illusion that cloaked a woman with dark hair and a purple cloak and the Pokémon Mismagius, presumably the woman's. "Ah-ha!"
"How'd you…?!" the woman was flabbergasted.
"You shouldn't have stuck around. You could have gotten away clean. Unless…you need to be close to continue manipulating it. Using your Mismagius' Hypnosis," Erza deduced their method of controlling the giant badger.
"So…you're Titania. Well, then… Mismagius, Power Gem!" the woman commanded. The Ghost-type blasted Erza, but the redhead deflected the attack with her blade.
"So that's how you want to fight. Fine by me!" Erza huffed, holding a Poké Ball. "Mawile, to arms!" She threw it. When the Steel- and Fairy-type appeared from the light of the opening capsule, it gave off the same powerful shockwave and menacingly cool vibe people got from Erza. A black Fairy Tail guild mark was on its left arm. Around Mawile's head was a headband much like the one from Erza's Heaven's Wheel Armor. In the middle of the headband was the Mega Stone Mawilite.
"Mawile!" Mawile gave a battle cry.
The Ghost-type Trainer saw a breeze play with Erza's red hair and she saw it. She saw a Key Stone dangling from her left earring. The woman begged, "S-stay back."
"You've taken an innocent creature against its will and terrorized a village. And you took pleasure in it. What was your goal? Conquest? Blackmail? No matter. You'll receive no sympathy from us," Erza declared. "Something like this isn't what the bond between people, Pokémon, and other creatures is about!"
"Mawile!" Mawile agreed.
"I will prove myself!" the mysterious woman screamed and sent her shadows—yes, shadows—at Erza, but the queen of the fairies cut them apart with Crimson Sakura.
"Evolution beyond evolution…" Erza muttered. Then, with a hearty voice, cried out, "Mega Stone, Key Stone, respond to our hearts! Now, Mega Evolve!" Her Key Stone and Mawile's Mawilite glowed and Mawile was enveloped in a mysterious light.
"You can use Mega Evolution?!" the Mismagius Trainer gasped.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Wendy cried out in awe.
"Somehow, I should have expected this," Carla said. Then, her eyes widened. She trembled a bit. She was having a vision, and it was a big blur of action, terror, and passion. She was able to make out bits and pieces. She saw Natsu and Ben fighting a man she had never seen. She wasn't sure how, but she thought this woman was somehow connected to the vision.
"Iron Head!" Erza called out a move as she herself charged at the mysterious woman.
"Mawile! Ma…wile!" Mega Mawile charged forward with a steel-hard head and a diamond spirit, slamming into the Mismagius.
"Mismagius!" Mismagius cried in agony.
"Magical Leaf!" its Trainer commanded as she narrowly dodged Erza's blade and fought her with a sword made of shadows, clashing with the enchanted metal.
Mismagius hit Mega Mawile with a barrage of razor sharp magical leaves, but the Mega Evolved Pokémon stood its ground in enduring the attack.
"What is it you're trying to prove?!" Erza demanded as she crossed blades with the woman.
"I was offered a place in an up-and-coming organization! A very professional-looking man wanted to see my talents in action! I am proving myself to him! I am useful! I am powerful! Together with Mismagius, I am able to do anything!" the woman yelled in Erza's face.
Erza, taking advantage of the woman's disparity and anger, made her move and landed the finishing blow. She said, "If you can cross paths with Fairy Tail, declare war on us, and don't regret it, I'll believe you. We may be known as a rambunctious guild, but we have a strong sense of justice. Speaking of being rambunctious, Mawile, use Play Rough!"
Play Rough, a move rather fitting of a Fairy Tail member, was a Fairy-type physical attack. Mega Mawile used it as a means to an end of the battle, finishing off Mismagius.
With Mismagius knocked out, the badger's hypnosis was lifted. It immediately stopped rampaging. Now docile, it started making its way back to its native plains, leaving half the town in ruins.
"Hey! Where are you going, you jerk! We're not taking the blame for you if that's what you're thinking!" Natsu chided, hoping that, for some reason, the giant badger would come back and assume responsibility.
"That sucked," Gray muttered.
"Sleazy codger, trying to make a move on my woman…" Happy grumbled.
"When exactly did that happen?" Carla asked, trying to put the vision into the back of her mind until she had the time to ponder it.
"Excellent work, my friend," Erza knelt down to her Pokémon and pat its head. "You're a good girl!"
"Mawile!" the now-reverted Mawile cried affectionately.